


bloom

by paranormalbouquet



Category: Tiny Meat Gang (Band)
Genre: Cottage core, Friends to Lovers, M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-05-31
Updated: 2020-05-31
Packaged: 2021-03-02 20:48:20
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,365
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/24473038
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/paranormalbouquet/pseuds/paranormalbouquet
Summary: “we just need someone to take care of the animals and the house and the garden and everything. just for the summer,” aleena told them. “don’t be intimidated by the land. it’s all good. i’m sure you guys are gonna love it. really, how bad could it be spending a summer with your best friend on a beautiful piece of land like this?”
Relationships: Cody Ko/Noel Miller
Comments: 18
Kudos: 83





	bloom

**Author's Note:**

> dedicated to the regulars losers, anya and star. lmao love u both so so much.  
> in the most recent bonus episode of the podcast, noel said "bro, let's move to 10-acre hobby farms" and me and anya kinda took that idea and ran with it. so actually most of this is from the conversation i had with her so thank u so much queen. u made this so much easier to write lol.  
> as always, this is fiction only using cody and noel as characters. don’t show this to them. i hope all of you enjoy:)

“we just need someone to take care of the animals and the house and the garden and everything. just for the summer,” aleena told them.

“yeah,” kelsey chimed in from where she stood in the kitchen, packing up the last of her and her girlfriend's travel snacks. “our other friends, the ones we were planning on taking care of everything, one of them had sudden family issues so they had to back out on the plans.”

“you two were our next best idea. we know you're both responsible and we trust you guys,” aleena added. 

“we really, really appreciate it, boys. we don’t know what we’d do without you,” kelsey thanked them as she walked over to where the three of them stood. 

“yes, absolutely. and don’t be intimidated by the land. it’s all good. i’m sure you guys are gonna love it. really, how bad could it be spending a summer with your best friend on a beautiful piece of land like this?” aleena smiled and came up to give noel a kiss on the cheek and then cody. “we have to head out though.”

kelsey did the same, kissed both boy’s cheeks, thanked them again for doing this, and they were both out the door in a blink. 

“well, fuck,” noel let out after they both heard the front door click closed. 

here they stood in aleena and kelsey’s cottage that was built on 20 acres of land and they were left to take care of their place, their garden, their animals, and their land for the entire summer. 

—

the beginning was a struggle. a real goddamn struggle because they didn’t know how to do anything. kelsey and aleena left a note with very little information on what to do every day, not including how to do it or the best way to do it. and it was all kind of a lot for the boys who had never been in a situation like this before. responsible for 20 acres of land? holy shit.

how the fuck do you take care of goats? how much should you water flowers? where the hell is the alcohol in this goddamn house? so many questions and no one there for miles to answer them.

the girls didn’t have a tv or a computer so the boys were left with only their phones. the wifi was shit and there’s no service out here anyways. both left to their own devices to entertain themselves and learn the way of the land.

—

on their third day of living on kelsey and aleena’s land, cody was at the sink washing the dishes and noel came walking, unimpressed as ever, into the house. cody heard his footsteps so he began talking to noel while still looking down at the dish he was desperately trying to get clean.

“how were the chickens today?” cody asked and when he didn’t get a response, he turned his head to look at noel.

and there he stood, absolutely covered in chicken shit. cody had to stifle his laugh as he heard noel say, “i hate it here.”

—

the flowers out in front of the house were dying rapidly and cody had no idea what to do about it. what the hell was he doing wrong? he’d been watering them and everything. was there some special thing you have to do to keep flowers alive? 

stressed and uptight, he stormed into the kitchen and snagged the note the girls left for them off the fridge. 

“cody, what’s wrong?” noel asked from the couch he was sitting on in the adjoining family room.

“shh,” cody shushed noel, sharpness in his tone.

cody reread the note probably four times before finally, it clicked in his head. 

“oh, fucking hell,” cody said from where he stood in the kitchen, now leaning on the center island with his face buried in his palms. “i’m such a fucking idiot.” 

“what?” noel asked?

“i’ve been fuckin’ overwatering the flowers out front.” 

soon enough, after cody tweaked his method, the flowers perked up again and they shined under the sunshine in beautiful rainbow colors.

—

the goats were depressed or something and it had been going on for days. and of course, as with everything else, the boys couldn’t for the life of them figure out why. it wasn’t like they could easily just look up what to do either. googling something on one of their phones would take a cool hour for anything load anyways. 

so what do you do?

there was a slot in the wall that allowed them to feed the goats through and that’s what they had been using. they would stick the food in there and call it a day. 

when cody and noel first got there, the goats would come out and play around after eating. but now, they would stay inside the pen and you couldn’t even hear much movement coming from inside anymore. 

with noel being noel, his first thought was that they killed the goats. no matter how irrational, it was still a possibility in his head. 

that same day he and cody went into the pen to check on the goats and they sprung to life seeing them. seeing people. 

“whoa,” noel let out while witnessing the sudden burst of energy in the goats. 

“noel, i swear to god…” cody started while petting one of the goats on the head. “if we made these goats depressed by not having human interaction…”

“who would have fuckin’ knew,” noel said as another goat nuzzled into his leg. cody smiled.

—

“noel,” the sound of cody’s voice broke through his slumber and came in muffled by the sleep he was being shaken out. “noel, wake up,” cody whispered, his hand resting on noel’s shoulder and gently rocking him.

“what the fuck do you want,” noel let out quiet and raspy from just being woken up.

“come down to the lake with me. the sun’s gonna rise in about thirty minutes and i wanna watch it with you. come on.”

it wouldn’t have taken any convincing at all but he still liked the way it sounded to hear cody beg him to go with him. it was sweet. cody was sweet. 

“fine. fine,” noel sighed out, fake exaggerating his contempt. and the smile on cody’s face was priceless.

…

it might’ve been a little too close to perfect as the boys sat there waiting for the sun to come up over the horizon. green, fluffy grass under them, a nice firm tree to lean their backs against, warm air that seemed to hug their skin in the sweetest embrace. almost perfect.

“it’s so pretty here,” cody let out, wonder in his eyes as he looked around at their surroundings.

“yeah, it is,” noel replied but his eyes were set on his best friend.

“oh, look noel. there’s the sun,” cody told him in the softest tone he’d ever heard. 

noel watched as a sliver of the sun appeared over the horizon and the sky got just a tiny bit brighter.

and by some uncontrollable force, noel leaned his head on cody’s shoulder and let out a sigh, watching the wonder of nature unfold before them. cody responded by leaning his head back against noel’s soft, ungelled dark hair.

it was perfect.

—

noel was the one that took care of the chickens and cody thought it was hilarious watching him do so because his “dude bro” language didn’t just occur with people. it extended to animals too. 

he would let out some food for the chickens and would notice one of them not getting in the mix with the rest and he’d go, “eat up, dude. come on,” while gently encouraging the chicken to join the rest.

today the chickens were being particularly loud and so as he was getting their food out for them, he went, “yo, stop fuckin’ squawkin’.”

cody couldn’t help but chuckle at him.

“homies, if u don't stop being loud, i _will_ cook your asses. don't test me, fools. every single one of ya’s,” noel told the chickens and cody’s eyes went wide.

“noel!” cody let out.

“cody, they can’t understand me. they’re fuckin’ chickens,” noel replied. “okay? but i would never. i love these little dudes. 

—

cody left the house early this morning to go on his daily jog and came back with a beautiful bunch of flowers clenched in his hands. 

“well, okay. i was on my jog this morning and i took a little bit different of a route than normal and i found these flowers that i’d never seen before. aren’t they gorgeous?” cody asked with excitement in his tone.

“yeah, they’re stunning,” noel replied looking at the flowers than at cody’s hands as they held the stems.

“don’t worry, there was plenty of them so i didn’t just like wipe them out of existence or anything,” cody laughed and his smile shined bright like the sun and it filled noel with warmth.

“uh, so i actually… you see the color of them? i know that it’s, like, your favorite color and so i thought about you when i grabbed them. so here,” cody held them out for noel to take. “these are for you.” 

the gentle appreciation on noel’s face was indescribable. 

“thank you, cody,” and that thank you wasn’t just for the flowers.

—

when they first got here, the boys slept in two separate rooms, in two separate beds. and it worked until it didn’t.

it worked until noel had a nightmare one night and was panicking and didn’t know what to do. he came over to cody’s room and woke him up with a voice that was audibly quivering. 

cody held him for the night and for all of the nights to come.

it was a thing that was unspoken. at the end of the day, they went to sleep in the same bed and that was that.

—

noel took up photography as a way to keep himself busy and noel would never give himself the credit, but cody thought noel’s photographs were the most beautiful ones on the planet. he’d take pictures of the stunning green trees out front, cinematic shots of the goats out in the pen, the warm sunrise whenever cody dragged him out there with him.

noel had an entire album dedicated to candids he took of cody out front with flowers. 

aleena and kelsey left a bag of flower seeds out with their note with no guidance as to what to do with them so cody took it upon himself to figure it out. and damn was he cute when he’s determined to do something. 

cody took the seeds and found a special place for them, and noel took pictures of him planting them. these little seeds that will grow to be gorgeous flowers. this summer felt almost like one of these seeds; starting out lackluster and unimpressive but with potential for growth into something beautiful.

cody concentrated as he planted the seeds, his bottom lip drawn in under his teeth, his eyebrows knitted on his forehead, and dirt smeared on his cheek.

noel got pictures of it all.

these seeds were going to grow and become something new and stunning and noel had a feeling their summer would too.

—

noel was pulling cody by his wrist out to the lake with the moonlight shining down on them. 

“i’ve heard swimming in a lake at night is one of those things you have to try in your life,” noel told cody as they walked.

“why?”

“because it is,” noel replied, no real answer because he hadn’t actually heard it anywhere. truthfully, he just wanted to do something with cody, have some fun. besides these were _his_ hours now and if cody got to drag him out at an ungodly hour to watch the sunrise, then noel gets to take him out late at night to go swimming.

they arrived at the lake and noel immediately got in.

“oooh, it’s a little chilly,” noel giggled. 

“and you expect me to get in when you say that? i’m already a little cold,” cody said from where he stood on the sand, only his feet getting a little wet.

the water was remarkably still though. it was peaceful at night, tranquil, and even in the coolness of the night cody felt the warmth of being around noel embrace him. 

just as cody was about to wade his way into the water, noel splashed him and after cody wiped the water out of his eyes he saw an evil smile on noel’s face. 

“oh, you fuckin’ little,” cody huffed out with a smirk and that was it because cody came charging into the water and tackled noel, sending both of them underwater. they bobbed back up again after a few seconds and i guess you could say this was the official water wrestle of the summer. 

—

cody took up drawing as a hobby. he’d draw the chickens, the sky on a particularly cloudy day, the lake whenever they walked over.

but this, this was the first portrait cody’s ever tried. 

noel was sat at the table with cody while the brunette was trying his very best to get every little detail of the man sitting before him.

“okay, now, noel. i wanna try and do your… your freckles. so come here.” 

cody took noel’s chin into his palm and began counting his freckles, a close to impossible task but cody felt it important to do. 

“are you—”

“shh. you’re gonna make me lose count,” cody informed noel. 

“oh my god,” noel sighed out with a smile, amused at his friend. 

cody seemingly got done counting and brought his other hand up to cup noel’s jaw.

“your skin is so soft,” cody told noel innocently. “so pretty.”

noel blushed as his gaze flickered down to cody’s lips for a split second and cody definitely noticed because he started to smile.

“what are you doing now?” noel asked.

“i’m feeling your jawline, figuring out how i should draw it,” cody replied. 

heavy silence fell between them as cody’s hands dragged over noel’s skin.

“do you wanna know how to draw my lips?” noel asked in a tone that was barely audible. cody’s mouth parted and it felt like forever before noel closed the gap between them. 

—

cody and noel slept in their bed together that night. and it wasn’t in the way they normally did. this way was sweet and slow and soft and beautiful. it was everything both of them never knew they needed. 

it was their flower finally blooming.

—

“do you ever miss it?” cody asked while watering the flowers out front. 

“miss what?” noel questioned from where he sat.

“la.”

“...not really.”

and cody grinned. “me neither”

—

noel watched cody as he swam in the lake, admiring his form and his perfect, perfect strokes. noel sat on the sand watching cody thinking about how perfect all of this was.

—

“i wish we could stay here forever,” noel said out of the silence, snuggling closer to cody in the bed. 

“yeah,” cody started, “me too.”

the only sound that hung in the air was the sound of the cicadas chirping outside. 

“we have to go back though,” cody whispered, leaning his head down to kiss noel’s hand. 

“i know.”

“too much unfinished business back at home and you know that,” cody turned in noel’s arms to face towards him, eyes locking and both smiling slightly.

noel nodded and leaned forward to place a kiss on cody’s nose. noel then pulled cody closer to his body, cody now listening to the other man’s steady heartbeat in his chest. 

“let’s just enjoy the rest of the time we have here.”

—

“oh my fucking— hhg— god, cody,” noel breathed out as cody kissed at noel neck and ground into him from behind. noel was searching his key ring for the key to their apartment and he couldn’t be more thankful than right now for them already having been roommates before their summer up at the cottage happened. “cody, i’m never gonna,” a big sigh as hardness pressed up against noel’s backside, “i’m never gonna be able to open up the door if you keep at it like this.”

cody laughed against the skin of noel’s neck and let off a little as noel found the key and twisted it in the lock on the door. he opened the door to their dark apartment and both of them carried their luggage through the door, setting it down and abandoning it before cody pushed noel up against the wall, bit at his back, and rubbed his knee up into noel’s crotch. noel’s hand came to weave its way through cody’s hair as a small whine escaped his lips. 

and wouldn’t you expect to be alone in your apartment after just returning from being gone for four months? yeah, apparently you can’t expect that when you have devon as a friend, someone who has had a key to their apartment for ages and has known they day they were coming back ever since they left. 

because the best fucking thing happens and the lights suddenly turn on and their friends are scattered all throughout their apartment yelling “surprise!” and “welcome home!” at them.

the sight before all of them quickly shut them all up though.

and it wasn’t just a surprise for cody and noel to have all of their friends in their apartment. it was a surprise for their friends to see cody and noel like this. 

“oh. my god,” devon let out, more shock in his voice than either of them had ever heard before.

cody slowly turned around to face all of their friends and really it was a ridiculous sight. both cody and noel flushed in the face, a bruise starting to show up on noel’s neck, both with hard-ons they were trying to cover up, and laughing their asses off because what else do you do in that situation? 

“well,” noel said as he was trying to catch his breath, “this was unexpected.”

“no kidding,” devon replied.

—

the whole “welcome home surprise party” debacle, though unconventional and unplanned for both parties at play, did make it easier for them to come out publicly as a couple back at home. 

happy and content. that’s what words you could use to describe cody and noel’s state right now. both of them back to doing the work they were doing before they left this summer, they were happy and content. back with friends, family, coworkers, all of it. it was good to be back around but just as someone would grow homesick, sometimes the boys missed the cottage. missed the animals. missed the lake and the moon and the sunrise and sunset. missed the flowers… 

—

“hey remember our third day up there when i got covered in chicken shit?”

“yes,” cody laughed and looked down at his hands. a few seconds of silence before cody started talking again. “do you miss it?”

“yeah.”

cody came up behind noel, wrapped his arms around him, and rested his chin on noel’s shoulder, letting out a sigh. “me too…”

—

four years later and they received a call from kelsey and aleena that caused cody to get the biggest smile noel had ever seen before he even knew what the girls told him. 

“okay, oh my god. thank you guys. so much. we’ll see you soon. yeah, love you both. bye,” cody said before ending the call. and all cody could do was sit there and smile.

“cody, what?” noel asked.

“well. aleena and kelsey said that they’re gonna be traveling the world now together and decided to sell their cottage and the land.”

“so, why are you so happy about that?” 

“because their first offer is going to us, noel,” cody clarified to him and the smile that grew on noel’s face said everything cody needed to know. 

they were going back.

with loose ends tied up in la, their unfinished business finished, they were more than ready to plant more seeds on the land around that beautiful, hopeful cottage and watch the flowers flourish.

**Author's Note:**

> f1esbian on twitter


End file.
